Saturday, January 21, 2017

It is exciting to see the progress we have made this year! We have started a new level of data tracking during the last month. Data trackers now hang in our hallways for teams to track our WIGs (Wildly Important Goals) in reading and writing. This is a way to celebrate our progress and success with those who visit GPS as well each team seeing their work towards meeting our goals.
Looking forward to seeing where we get at our next benchmarks. Here is a picture of our kindergarten team goals! Way to go, Kinders!

Our Kindergarten teachers tracked Letter ID (upper and lower case) and Letter Sounds from the beginning of the year until the end of October. We are so proud of their success in this area. They actually continued the goal through mid-November when we had over 90% meet this goal!!

Friday, September 23, 2016

Teachers have been digging deep into our Lucy Calkins' Units of Study work and students are loving the workshop model. The extended time to read and different structures are allowing many opportunities for practice and growth. So exciting!

This week we did our first Leadership Pow-Wow Rally for the year and ALL 3 grade levels exceeded the target goal for attendance! Woo-Hoo!!! We will celebrate with a school-wide popsicle party!

Our school-wide leadership roles are in full swing and students are even learning how to run our new News Show. Never underestimate the power and skill of children! :) They continue to go above and beyond each and every day here at GPS.

Today is another one of those fun-filled days of learning as our Scouts (big and small) will come to school dressed as pirates to kick-off our Scholastic Book Fair!!

I love what I do and I am blessed to be able to do what I love! While there is so many more exciting and wonderful things happening here, I am off to do cross-walk duty to welcome our little "pirates" to school on this Book Fair kick-off Friday!!

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Our GPS faculty and staff have worked hard this week to prepare for our Scouts! We have had full staff professional development, completed our yearly beginning of the year requirements, decorated classrooms and hallways, and collaborated for planning!
We know this year our students are going to make great gains! Focusing on our Leader in Me initiative with goal setting and tracking our data (at the school, team, class, and student level). Our school-wide goals are with reading, writing, and leadership and we can't wait to get our beginning data posted.
This is an exciting time to be a Scout and part of our Gilbert Primary School family! Happy new school-year to all of the teachers, staff members, and educators who will impact lives again in big ways for the next 10 months!

Saturday, August 6, 2016

Each year, the summers seem to go faster. My mom always said that when I was young, but I just didn't get it! Now, I do!! While summers are full of opportunities to Sharpen the Saw by traveling, visiting extended family, reading a treasured book, and spending at least a couple mornings sleeping in, our teachers and staff have also been hard at work.
During the summer, all of our classrooms and areas of the school are thoroughly cleaned, floors are stripped and waxed, and many rooms are moved from one hallway to another. Information is being moved within our systems for our students to rise up to that next grade level (which takes a lot of behind the scenes work), and teachers are preparing their hearts, classrooms, and lessons for the sweet faces that will join them this fall.
With our Leader in Me initiative, our students are on a Leadership journey while teachers and staff step back and let them lead! As students are learning more about the 7 Habits, they are becoming leaders of themselves, by goal setting, planning how to reach their goals, thinking about others, and how to work collaboratively. They are developing skills to help them be successful with these areas and much more. We are working side-by-side with families to grow our Scouts so they can reach their fullest potential during their few years with us!
The excitement that fills the halls of schools at this time of year is indescribable. I am honored to be doing what I love and love what I am doing!

Sunday, March 13, 2016

What a great turn-out our Scouts had at the Gilbert Color Run on Saturday! Thank you to Coach Walsh for heading this up. It was exciting to see the students and staff who participated, not only enJOY their time supporting this event, but also laughing together and building relationships.

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Our students are always coming up with amazing ways to impact others! A few days ago, a few of our 2nd graders reached out to their teacher with ideas for connecting to and positively impacting our 5K self-contained classroom. The 2nd graders wanted to make sure that our monthly Pow-Wow Leadership Rallies were inclusive for these students. Not only did they come up with ways to make sure this happens in upcoming rallies (for them being included in the cheers, the celebrations, and the singing), but they have decided to partner with this class and do some mentoring during recess time to build relationships! I can't tell you how proud I am of their leadership, their vision, and their hearts! Their teacher is nurturing this mindset and so many are benefiting from this!

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Being on this leadership journey is exciting! I love hearing students talk about how the 7 Habits are helping them to be better students, brothers and sisters, and friends. Watching the growth happen over the course of our 2 years (so far) has been amazing! It is an honor to be "Growing. Learning. Leading.....Together" with our Scouts!